Arguments were one thing, but as Jiang Ming prepared to head home, he couldn’t help but cast a worried glance toward the western peaks.
“I’m afraid Big Sister won’t make it back today,” he muttered to himself.
“Achoo!”
High up in a tree miles away, Jiang Yue let out a sudden sneeze—as if someone were talking about her. Her bow hand jerked just as a massive shadow lunged from the brush. A heavy paw, sharp with claws, swept through the air, nearly batting her right out of the branches.
She reacted with the honed instincts of a survivor, twisting her body mid-air to dodge the blow.
It was a fully grown brown bear. Its sense of smell was legendary; likely, it had been drawn by the metallic tang of the fresh kills hanging from her belt. She had mistaken its tracks for a wild boar’s earlier—a mistake she didn’t have time to regret. Jiang Yue drew her bow to full tension and let fly. The arrow struck the bear squarely in the chest.
Against a creature with such thick hide and layers of fat, however, the shot was little more than a stinging nuisance. It only served to ignite the beast’s fury. With a guttural roar, the bear lunged at the tree, its weight shaking the trunk.
Jiang Yue steadied herself against the swaying branches and loosed a second arrow. This one found its mark, piercing the bear’s eye. The animal lost its footing and tumbled back to the forest floor. Jiang Yue knew she couldn’t win a close-quarters brawl with her small frame; she had to keep the monster grounded.
Bellowing in rage, the bear swung a massive paw, snapping thick branches like dry twigs. As Jiang Yue dropped to a lower limb, she fired again, blinding the bear’s other eye.
Driven mad by the pain, the bear was now a “blind ghost,” thrashing wildly and charging blindly at anything that moved. Jiang Yue danced through the dense thicket, engaging the beast for dozens of rounds.
She emptied her quiver. Thirty arrows, every single one finding its mark, until the bear resembled a giant, oversized hedgehog.
She drew her dagger. There was only one opening left. Gauging the timing, she darted to the side, dropped her weight into a deep crouch, and drove the blade with every ounce of her strength into the bear’s throat.
“ROAR!” The bear’s final scream was so primal it seemed to make the very mountain tremble.
She yanked the dagger free. A spray of hot blood coated the surrounding leaves. Jiang Yue retreated to a safe distance in the trees, watching as the bear’s cries gradually weakened. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the beast bled out and fell silent.
One by one, she retrieved her arrows. Wiping the fine beads of sweat from her brow, a small, triumphant smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She had killed a bear. With this prize, her family’s hardships would surely come to an end.
The bear weighed at least five hundred pounds—far too heavy to carry. She fashioned a makeshift travois out of sturdy branches and dragged the carcass back to her previous night’s camp.
The air was thick with the scent of blood, a dinner bell for any predator in the area. Jiang Yue didn’t dare sleep. She kept the fire roaring all night, her eyes wide and alert until the sky turned the color of a fish’s belly. Without wasting a moment, she lashed the rest of her small game to the litter and began the grueling trek down the mountain.
She didn’t head home. The relatives in the front courtyard were like vultures, and she had no energy to deal with their schemes. Instead, she went straight to Luo Douzi’s house. Having just arrived in this era, she knew nothing of the local towns or markets. She planned to give the Luo family a tenth of the bear as payment; for the rest, she needed the help of the Luo patriarch to find a buyer.
By the time she reached their door, the sun was high in the midday sky. Luo Douzi opened the gate. Seeing him, Jiang Yue dropped her “mute” act and spoke with polite directness.
“Is your grandfather home?”
Luo Douzi had spent the night fuming over her disappearance, only for his anger to turn into a cold, quiet worry by morning. He had started to view her as a capable partner and had spent the last few hours praying she would simply return in one piece.
He stared at her. Aside from her sallow complexion, there wasn’t a clean inch on her. She was a mess of dirt and grime, her chest heavily stained with blood. Fortunately, her clothes were intact—it wasn’t her blood.
Then he looked behind her. On the branch litter lay pheasants, rabbits, a deer… and beneath them all, a thick coat of brown fur and two enormous paws.
“You little liar!” Luo Douzi exploded, his voice a mix of shock and fury. “You actually went into the deep mountains by yourself! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!”
Luo Douzi was a boy driven by vengeance, but he was no fool. Had he been reckless, he would have charged into the deep mountains long ago. He had an aging grandfather and a frail mother to consider; without a foolproof plan, even if he managed to avenge his father, he might not survive the return trip. If he lost his life in those woods, his family would surely perish without him.
He had wanted to partner with Jiang Yue because she was sharp enough to keep up. Hunting in the deep wild was a game of endurance; one person’s energy was finite. He needed a partner he could trust with his life—someone to keep watch while he slept, ensuring a predator didn’t slit his throat in the dark. He had originally considered Jiang Ming, but who could have guessed that Jiang Yue would turn out to be this formidable?
Her skill was now beyond doubt. As for trust? From the moment she had picked up that bow, he had found himself inexplicably placing his faith in her.
Jiang Yue offered him a cheeky, soot-streaked grin.
“You’re the lifeblood of the Luo family. If Grandpa Luo didn’t give the word, how could I dare take you on such a dangerous gamble?”
Luo Douzi’s face flushed a deep crimson. Does this girl even realize how that sounds? He jerked his head away, avoiding her gaze.
“Grandfather is inside. Let’s get these kills into the courtyard first.”
Jiang Yue watched him, feeling genuinely puzzled. Why on earth is he blushing? > “Don’t tell me you’re moved to tears because I avenged your father?”
“The beast that hurt my father was a black bear!” Luo Douzi shot back over his shoulder. “I’ll settle my own debts!”
They entered the courtyard, but there was no need to call out. Old Man Luo and his daughter-in-law, Madam Zhao, had already heard the commotion and hurried out to meet them.
Jiang Yue waved a hand toward the travois on the ground.
“Grandpa Luo, here is the haul from this trip. Please, take your pick of the lot. As for the rest… could I trouble you to help me sell them?”
The old man, leaning heavily on his lame leg, hobbled over to inspect the catch. As he untied the bundles, his eyes widened. A squirrel was still twitching, its only wound at the base of its tail; a rabbit was still breathing, shot cleanly through the leg; even the wild deer was still clinging to life despite a shoulder wound.
“You caught all of these yourself?” Old Man Luo asked, his voice thick with disbelief.
Having been a hunter his entire life, he recognized the handiwork immediately. The hunter had intentionally spared their lives to keep the meat fresh—a level of precision and cold-blooded calculation he had never seen in all his years.
But as he cleared away the smaller game, the full silhouette of the brown bear was revealed. Its fur was thick and lustrous, though marred by dozens of arrow holes. The fatal wound was a deep, clean slit across the throat. Whoever had killed this beast not only possessed elite marksmanship but knew the anatomy of a bear perfectly, striking the jugular with a single, decisive stroke.
“Oh heavens!” Madam Zhao cried out, stumbling back in horror. The bear’s eyes were nothing but two hollow, bloody pits.
Old Man Luo was a man of the world, and though his face remained stoic, his mind was reeling. He reached a logical, if incorrect, conclusion: a young girl like Jiang Yue couldn’t possibly have done this alone. There had to be a hidden master in the woods who had helped her.
He didn’t realize that Jiang Yue was, in fact, that master.
Luo Douzi, however, was examining the wounds more closely. He had seen her speed and didn’t doubt her for a second. The arrows in the bear matched the ones from his own house, and the throat wound was clearly made by his own dagger. His respect for her reached a whole new level of awe.
Grandfather and grandson shared a silent, knowing look, neither of them voicing their shock aloud. Old Man Luo realized his earlier question was a mistake—if there was a secret benefactor involved, it wasn’t his place to pry.
“I won’t take a commission,” the old man said, changing the subject quickly. “The rabbit you gave us the other day was more than enough. Come with me to the county seat; I know a few restaurant managers. I’ll make sure you get a fair price for all of this.”
Jiang Yue wasn’t one to live on charity. She insisted the old man take a share, reaching for her dagger to hack off one of the bear’s legs as payment.
The old man scrambled to stop her.
“No, no! Don’t ruin the hide! A bear sells for much more when it’s whole.” In the end, they compromised, and he agreed to keep only the wild deer. It was small, but rare—a fine prize in its own right—while the bear remained intact for the market.